Conference USA suspends remainder of season for spring sports

All FAU sports will be suspended until further notice due to concerns over coronavirus.

Conference USA, which FAU is a member, has postponed the fall season for soccer and volleyball. Photo courtesy of Conference USA.

Zachary Weinberger, Sports Editor
March 12, 2020

Because of the coronavirus outbreak, Conference USA decided Thursday to suspend spring sport competition until further notice.

 

The men’s basketball team won their first round game against Old Dominion and was set to take on North Texas in the quarterfinals, but with restricted attendance. Originally, the conference basketball tournament was going to continue, but it wouldn’t be open to the general public. 

 

“All remaining games will be played with the official team party, student-athlete family, credentialed media, television and radio crews and essential personnel,” Conference USA said in a statement Wednesday. 

 

The next day, large-scale conferences around the country such as the SEC, ACC and others cancelled their tournaments. C-USA followed suit soon after.

 

The same thing goes for the women’s side of the bracket, however, the Owls were eliminated in the first round to UTEP, 95-67.

 

While the basketball teams were in the postseason, the baseball and softball season was in full swing, but now that has come to a halt. FAU baseball’s game against Penn on March 11 was cancelled due to the threat of the coronavirus, but softball’s last game was against FGCU on March 10.

 

The football season starts in the fall, but in the spring, the team conducts practices in late March which eventually leads to the spring game in mid-April. With the conference suspension of spring sports activities, that also is at a suspended until further notice. 

 

It is yet to be determined when the programs will come back, but it’s not just collegiate sports that have stopped play. The NBA, MLB, NHL and MLS are just a couple of the professional leagues that have taken drastic measures to prevent the spread of the illness by cancellation. 

 

Besides the sports programs, FAU announced Wednesday that the university is temporarily transitioning to “remote instruction” beginning on Mar. 16 with in-person class expected to resume on Mar. 30.

 

Zachary Weinberger is the sports editor of the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @ZachWeinberger.